Ministry of Justice

Job Title: Personal Assistant to the Senior Master of the King’s Bench Division

Grade:  Executive Officer (EO)

Location: Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2A 2LL 

Background

The King’s Bench Division is one of the three divisions of the High Court, together with the Chancery Division and Family Division. It is the largest of the three divisions and has the most varied work, which consists mainly of personal injury, negligence (including professional negligence), breach of statutory duty, media and communications claims including defamation, other tortious conduct, breach of contract and breaches of the Human Rights Act 1998.

The judiciary allocated to the King’s Bench Division consists of High Court Judges, including the President of the King’s Bench, and there are Judges who are referred to as Masters, one of which is the Senior Master.  A Master is a Judge who at first instance in the High Court deals with all aspects of a claim, from its issue until trial, the trial is before either a High Court Judge or a Master.

Role Purpose 

An exciting opportunity has arisen to act as the Personal Assistant to the Senior Master of the King’s Bench Division. This is a business-critical post, where the post-holder will need to manage conflicting priorities and use their initiative. The post holder will work in a fast-paced and exciting environment where you will need to anticipate and resolve issues, prioritise competing demands and successfully support your principal so they are able to deliver their responsibilities. The post-holder will be required to liaise with the Senior Master and other judges, and stakeholders both inside and outside of HMCTS. Discretion is important in this role given the variety of information and ceremonial areas.

This role will suit candidates who are flexible, resilient, and pragmatic with strong interpersonal and organisational skills. You will be comfortable managing your own workload whilst enjoying being part of a wider King’s Bench teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Complex Diary Management: The PA would handle intricate scheduling, ensuring that the Senior Master's time is managed efficiently and effectively. This includes coordinating meetings, appointments, and events with various stakeholders across the judiciary and government. The PA will be expected to look ahead to identify busy periods and work that is likely to demand time and proactively manage diaries to align with this.
• Carrying out a role of a Chief Clerk to King’s Remembrancer: The Senior Master holds the ceremonial office of King’s Remembrancer. To support this role, the PA will provide administrative support as the Chief Clerk to the King’s Remembrancer in relation to annual ceremonial duties. This includes organising ceremonies and liaising with a number of stake holders, including judiciary, RCJ management, Judicial Office, The City of London, The Parliament and others.
• Strategic Planning: The PA will be involved in strategic planning and decision-making processes, providing support in developing and implementing plans that align with the Senior Master's objectives. Taking ownership of tasks on behalf of the Senior Master, the PA will need to create effective systems to ensure work preparation and attendance of ceremonial events are tracked and delivered on time, communicating with relevant stakeholders regularly to prioritise and agree deadlines and escalating where necessary when these are missed.
• Communication Management: The PA will manage communications on behalf of the Senior Master, including drafting and reviewing correspondence, preparing reports, and ensuring that all communications are clear, concise, and professional. Overseeing email inboxes as required, including identifying anything urgent or important which needs to be dealt with quickly; and taking responsibility for commissioning and collating responses to requests for information or action. The PA will therefore need to set up and maintain an effective filing and archiving system and be able to respond to enquiries and requests.
• Stakeholder Liaison: The PA will act as a liaison between the Senior Master and other stakeholders, facilitating communication and collaboration. This includes liaising with other departments, government officials, and external partners and to develop strong working relationships with Masters of the King’s Bench, Private Offices of the Heads of Divisions, specifically the President of the King’s Bench Division, and their wider teams. The PA will be required to handle any sensitive information in a confidential manner.
• Project support: The PA will assist with delegated administrative and research tasks linked to projects that the Senior Master has commissioned.
• Administrative support to the other KB Masters: Providing secretarial support to KB Masters to assist with their work on committees & sub-committees and other projects such as help with updating the King’s Bench Guide; the CPR Forms Committee and the Clinical Negligence sub-Committee.
• Other general administrative support: Providing broader administrative support, including ensuring that papers and other relevant material are available in advance of meetings, and liaise regarding travel arrangements. The PA will also handle tasks that are delegated via the Masters Listing team Delivery Manager, (e.g. Sealing Masters Orders etc).

Person Specification

Given close working with the judiciary, senior officials across Government, and a wide range of other stakeholders, the post holder will be expected to be able to communicate clearly, both orally and in writing. The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate excellent organisational and inter-personal skills, whilst managing a busy inbox. The role is fast paced, challenging, and stimulating, offering significant scope for personal development and stretch. The post-holder will be required to manage conflicting priorities, manage confidential and sensitive information. The post-holder will be required to work collaboratively with the wider Masters’ Listing team, drawing links with colleagues across the Judicial Office, HMCTS and wider stakeholders as necessary. The ability to build and maintain resilient relationships against shifting priorities and a demanding workload is important.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• A passion for excellent service delivery. 
• Has great attention to detail and an ability to work at pace calmly.
• Excellent organisational and task management skills.
• Confident building strong personal relationships across a large and complex organisation.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Can work on own initiative and prioritise workload to meet conflicting objectives.
• Highly resilient and takes “can do” attitude to resolving issues.
• Proficient Microsoft Office software skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of working in an administrative or business support role. 

Other duties

The post holder is required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of this post.

Further details

Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. Whilst the role is full time only, HMCTS operates a flexible approach to working hours to suit both individual and business needs.

Skilled Worker Visa

This role is not eligible for new Skilled Worker visas in accordance with the current immigration rules.

 From 22 July 2025, the Government introduced changes to the Skilled Worker visa route. The department cannot consider sponsoring you for this role unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes. If you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously, please raise this during your vetting checks and eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place.

 If you are applying for this role and you have not held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes, you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

The Department will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here.